Zanesville's Lucas Graham is mobbed by his Blue Devil teammates after returning an interception for a touchdown against rival Newark on Friday night. / CHRIS CROOK/Times Recorder

Written by

DAVE WEIDIG

Staff Writer

ZANESVILLE - When Lucas Graham saw open field in front of him, he had one thing in mind: the end zone.

Zanesville's senior cornerback picked off a Newark pass at the Wildcats' 40, immediately raced to the right sideline, tightroped his way and dove in for the touchdown, sending the Blue Devils on the way to a long-awaited 32-6 victory over their arch-rivals Friday night before a jubilant throng in John D. Sulsberger Memorial Stadium.

Graham's big score, with 10:26 still left on the third quarter clock, expanded Zanesville's 12-6 halftime edge to 19-6 after Noah Baldwin's PAT kick, and the Devils' defense and potent rushing attack took over from there. Bryan Gaiters romped 86 yards down the same right sideline for another TD late in the quarter, and fullback Anthony Scott blasted 3 yards for the final score with 7:21 left as ZHS ended a seven-year losing streak to Newark and narrowed the series gap to 50-48-4.

"I knew the pass was going to the middle of the field; he cut off his route short and I read the quarterback's eyes," Graham said of his interception. "I saw green in front of me, my teammates blocked for me, and I wasn't going out of bounds for anything. This was Newark, something you'll always remember."

ZHS first-year head coach Chad Grandstaff saw his defense limit the Wildcats, who ran for a school-record 515 yards last year against the Devils, to a net 52 yards in 25 carries. Meanwhile, Gaiters racked up 153 yards on 19 attempts, Antman Chandler sped his way for 115 more on six tries and Scott bulled his way for 84 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Zanesville ran for 377 yards.

"The day I got the job, I made them all sign a paper saying we were going to bring the tradition back, and beat Newark," Grandstaff said. "The interception gave us that lead, and our guys started smelling blood. Our defense played great and so did our offensive line."

Did the margin of victory surprise him, after Zanesville lost 49-7 at Newark last season?

"I told our guys all week, I thought we were ready to explode," he said. "I'm really happy for our seniors, to finally get a win over Newark and to do it on their home field."

"We were out-hit, we were out-tackled, we were out-run and we were certainly out-coached," said Newark coach Scott Beery. "That was the difference in the game. I don't know if it was a particular play or two."

Chandler got Zanesville off to a flying start when he galloped 48 yards down the right sideline with the opening kickoff, before being knocked out of bounds at the Newark 37. Quarterback James Reid's only completion of the night was a big one, a 10-yarder on fourth-and-sixth to Graham. Reid capped the 11-play drive with a 1-yard TD plunge barely four minutes into the game, but Baldwin's kick was wide left.

Scott inspired ZHS with his tackle-breaking, 46-yard jaunt from his 15 to the Newark 39, dragging tacklers the final 5 yards. Chandler sliced his way for 19 on a counter play, helping to set up Scott's 2-yard TD run with 9:04 before halftime. The PAT run failed but the Blue Devils led 12-0.

The Wildcats, stymied most of the first half by Zanesville's aggressive defense, finally got some life when Trevor Spurgeon looped a 26-yard touchdown pass to 6-3 Will McCoy, who outleaped 5-5 defensive back J.T. Bunting on the fade route. But the kick failed, leaving it at 12-6.

Newark got first possession of the second half, but Graham quickly doused any momentum the Wildcats had with his big play and returned it to Zanesville.

Gaiters had another night of highlight reel runs. On his 86-yard TD, he made a Wildcat miss in the backfield, cut to the sideline and was off to the races.

"It's all about vision; I try to visualize myself scoring a touchdown," he said. "My offensive line got to the outside and Anthony Scott threw a great block.

"This was a 'show me' game for us tonight. We wanted to show this community that we could beat Newark."

Gaiters also came up with a leaping interception in the fourth quarter and made five Wildcat tacklers miss, spinning and juking before finally being tackled after about a 20-yard return.

Chandler's 35-yard burst set up Scott's final TD.

ZHS limited James Keck, who had 207 yards and three touchdowns against Columbus Northland last week, to 53 yards on 16 attempts. Spurgeon completed six of 11 passes for 87 yards with an interception, and Rahlin Watson hit on seven of 15 for 53 yards and two interceptions. McCoy caught eight passes for 137 yards and Ryan Nutter five for 57 yards. Reid added an interception for the winners.

"We have to stay focused," Grandstaff said amid the celebration bedlam on the Sulsberger grass, where students stormed the field. "We have goals that we set, and Newark was one of them."